Oneida Expedition

The Oneida Expedition was a campaign carried out by Colonel Sven Kuechler's Hessian mercenaries against the Oneida tribe of New York in June 1775 at the start of the American Revolutionary War, aimed at clearing out any patriots or rebel sympathizers in the woods of upstate New York. The Hessians burned down some Oneida villages and took many of the villagers hostage, seeking to forcibly recruit Native Americans for the British cause. However, Captain Nathaniel Black and his Oneida tribesmen - with the help of six colonial militiamen and a battery of artillery - succeeded in freeing the hostages and burning the Hessian base to the ground. Black freed his mother Nonahkee and the captured Oneida tribesmen before heading off to Boston, Massachusetts, where he decided to enlist in the Continental Army.